A 22-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to the murder of a former head girl whose body was found in woodland in Wrexham five days after she went missing.

Shop worker Jamie Reynolds, of Avondale Road, Wellington, Shropshire, entered his plea at Birmingham Crown Court today following the death of 17-year-old Georgia Williams, who disappeared from her home on May 26 after telling her parents she was going to see friends.

Her body was found by Nant-y-Garth pass, near Wrexham, five days later.

Reynolds appeared in the dock dressed in a suit, wearing glasses and sporting a beard, and kept his head bowed throughout much of the hearing.

He spoke only to confirm his name and enter a plea to the charge read out to him.

Sitting across from him in the public gallery, Georgia’s parents, Steve and Lynette Williams, and her older sister, Scarlett, listened intently to proceedings.

On more than one occasion Mr Williams looked over at Reynolds in the dock, while Mrs Williams wiped away tears.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall adjourned the case to a pre-trial hearing at Stafford Crown Court on November 27.